


In Pursuit of Failure

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, Kid Will, M/M, Magic, Monsters, Unspecified Setting, Will is an oddity in his village, Will likes to fish, and time, at first, but who's lying to whom, fae hannibal, lies and manipulation, then he grows up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 03:56:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21349852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: "The guardian has the audacity to laugh at him for it. “I have lived for a very long time, Hannibal, and I’ve met many monsters, fae and otherwise. And I can say with absolute certainty that I have never once met one foolish enough to fall in love.” Then she disappeared into a pile of moss, and Hannibal was left to stand there, frozen in place by words that were never meant to have been spoken aloud."Hannibal is caught in the middle of a murder by a boy who is strangely not frightened by him. Hannibal is intrigued enough that he just has to know more.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 18
Kudos: 286





	In Pursuit of Failure

He realised the child had seen him and Hannibal couldn't let him get away. He darted after the child, moving quicker than humanly possible, and stood directly in the boy’s path, blocking him from being able to escape. The boy looked up at Hannibal with wide eyes, though strangely enough, there did not seem to be any fear in them. “What’s your name?”

The boy blinked a couple of times, and seemed surprised that Hannibal had spoken to him instead of just tearing his head off like he’d done a minute ago. There was a strange courage in the boy, who couldn’t be older than five or six years old, as he balled his hands into fists and looked up at Hannibal’s face. The only sign that he was nervous was that he would not meet Hannibal’s eyes. “Jamie.”

One corner of Hannibal’s mouth quirked up in an amused grin. “Do you have a last name, Jamie?”

Jamie scowled. “I’m not going to tell you that. Then you’ll just eat my family.”

Hannibal tilted his head to the side as he gave Jamie a considering look. “Why do you think that I would eat them?” It seemed like a pretty specific thing to be worried about, considering that Hannibal had only torn his last victim apart. Of course he would have gotten around to eating the man if he hadn’t been interrupted by Jamie, but there was no way that Jamie could have known that.

The boy gave him an uncertain look. “Because that’s what you do, isn’t it?” 

“Hm.” Hannibal had already dealt with his bloodthirst, at least for the moment. And Jamie was so young, there was no way any adults would believe him if he tried to tell them about what he had seen. And Hannibal couldn’t deny that he found something curious about the boy. Normally Hannibal couldn’t care less about humans, but he felt that Jamie’s bravery ought to be rewarded, at least just this once. “How about we make a deal, Jamie? If you promise not to tell anyone about me, I’ll let you walk away right now.”

Jamie frowned, and crossed his arms over his chest. “My nana said that you should never make a deal with a demon.”

Hannibal couldn’t stop himself from letting out a small laugh. “A demon? Is that what you think I am? Why, I’m almost insulted.”

Jamie dropped his arms back down to his sides and stared up at Hannibal with undisguised curiosity. “Then what are you? There’s no way you’re a person. People can’t run that fast. And people don’t have red eyes.” 

“Excellent points. You seem to be a very clever boy, Jamie. But I can assure you that I am not a demon. In fact, many might consider me to be quite the opposite. I’m known as a fae. Have you ever heard that term before?”

Jamie scrunched his face up as he tried to think, and Hannibal found that there was something strangely endearing about the boy. “Like a- a fairy?”

Hannibal nodded. “Yes, like a fairy. Not quite the same, but very similar. The same way that you are not Asian, but you are like an Asian person because you are both humans.”

Jamie thought about that for a moment, and then let out a small, ‘huh’. He stared at the ground for a few seconds before looking up at Hannibal again. “I guess my nana didn’t ever say anything about making deals with fae, so it should be alright. You’ll leave me alone, and I won’t tell anyone about you?”

It didn’t escape Hannibal’s attention that Jamie had just tried to change the terms of the deal Hannibal had proposed, and Hannibal found himself entirely too delighted by the whole encounter. “I’ll let you walk away, and you won’t tell anyone about me,” he corrected.

Jamie rolled his eyes, but then he held out one of his hands. “Alright, mister.” They shook hands, and then Jamie gave Hannibal one last long look before scampering away. Hannibal let the boy leave, though he couldn’t help looking down at his own hands. There had been nothing binding about the deal that they’d just made, which meant that Jamie wasn’t the boy’s real name. A full name was required for a full binding, but even a first name was enough to bind such a simple deal, and yet nothing had happened. It would seem that ‘Jamie’ was even more clever than Hannibal had given the boy credit for. Which meant that he was definitely someone to keep an eye on. 

,,,

It didn’t take too much effort to track down ‘Jamie’ once Hannibal had finished making a meal of his latest kill. Even though the boy had figured out how to cover his tracks in the woods, there was only one village close enough to the woods for a young boy to have wandered out of it. So Hannibal headed to the village.

He stayed on the outskirts, and simply watched everyone in the village. After a few days, he learned that the boy’s real name was Will Graham, though it didn’t matter that Hannibal knew the name. It wouldn’t count for the purposes of bindings unless Will told Hannibal his full name, which would also include any hidden middle name his parents might have gifted him with. The kind of name given to children specifically to prevent anyone like Hannibal from being able to fully bind them.

True to his word, Will didn’t tell anyone about his meeting with Hannibal, at least not as far as Hannibal could tell. It seemed like he didn’t have many people he could share such an encounter with anyways. Hannibal watched as the other children stayed away from Will. They only approached him as a group, and only to insult him and shove him around. Will was not the smallest of the children, but he never even attempted to fight back, or even defend himself with words. 

The hostility shown towards Will was something that confused Hannibal, especially when he noticed that even the adults tended to avoid the boy, though of course they didn’t bully him the way the children did. Will was an intelligent, curious, brave boy. Usually children with those characteristics would be loved and respected and molded into being the next generation of village leaders. So why was Will such a social outcast? 

Hannibal’s curiosity grew too great, and he waited until the middle of the night, and then went to find Will. As he approached the Graham house, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, and only had to take a few steps to the side to see Will climbing out one of the windows. 

He landed on the dirt below the window with a muffled thump, and then glanced around to make sure he was alone. Hannibal remained out of sight, intrigued to see where Will was headed. The boy left the village, which was a very foolish thing to do after dark, and headed to the woods. Hannibal wondered if he’d have to fight off any monsters to protect Will, or if he’d just allow them to devour the boy to teach him a lesson about wandering into the woods on his own.

Hannibal had hung around in these woods long enough to know that they were full of creatures that humans didn’t even dare to imagine, and they were the type of creatures that could never resist the taste of humans- whether it was fear, flesh, or otherwise. 

And as they walked further into the woods, Hannibal could sense the presence of many different monsters. But what was truly bizarre was the fact that none of them made any move to approach Will. Like Hannibal, they all just watched silently from the shadows, and it was difficult to say whether or not Will was even aware of the many eyes on him. 

Will slowed to a stop just in front of a fallen tree that was covered in moss. He glanced around, and any creatures that had been peeping out immediately withdrew back into the shadows. Hannibal had seen many things since he’d decided to stay in the human world, but he’d never seen monsters seem so… afraid. Not of anything, but especially not of a human.

Will must have been satisfied that he was alone, because he climbed up to perch on the fallen tree, which was at least twice as tall as him. It must have been a very old tree before it had fallen, which made Hannibal wonder what could have knocked it down.

Once he was seated comfortably in the moss, Will cleared his throat. “Nana? Are you there?”

There was a brief pause, and then Hannibal felt it as the entire forest shook for a moment, before the moss on the tree trembled and shifted, and slowly moved into the shape of a woman. “Darling, the full moon is tomorrow. Why are you here tonight?”

Hannibal paid strict attention to the conversation as he began to understand why none of the monsters in the woods had made any attempts to get Will. Even if Hannibal didn’t recognize the woman’s physical, mossy form, he could feel her presence in the air, and knew that she was the owner of these woods. Everything that lived there did so under her watchful eyes, and when Hannibal had first moved to the woods, he’d left out offerings for her so that she would allow him to stay. She did not care about human blood being spilled in her woods, and in fact sometimes seemed to enjoy it, but somehow, Will was important to her, and none of the creatures wanted to risk earning her wrath. 

Will turned to look at the woman, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around his legs. “I know. I just really needed to talk to you. Do you remember when you said that I should never make deals with demons?” She nodded once, and waited patiently for him to continue. “Well, what about deals with fae? Are those okay?”

Every resident of the woods could feel how much the words troubled her. “No. Demons will find the most awful ways possible to fulfill their deals, but fae are much worse because they keep their word and give you what you asked for, but then snatch you away before you can enjoy the benefits of the deal. They only care about spiriting people away to their own world and causing trouble. Have you made a deal with a fae?” 

As far as Hannibal knew, he was the only fae in the woods. He was suddenly quite glad that he had not been able to make even the smallest deal into a binding one. He was a very powerful fae, but even he would not be able to stand his ground in a fight against a forest guardian. 

Will shook his head. “Not really. I gave him a fake name like you told me, so it’s just a fake deal. But he seemed nice. He called me clever and he smiled at me a bunch.”

Even in the dark, Hannibal could make out the sad look on the woman’s face. “Oh, darling. You are the most clever boy I’ve ever known. But you cannot believe anything that a fae tells you.” She reached out to pull Will into a hug, and he easily returned it. “Go home, darling. Return to me on the full moon.” 

Will nodded, and hopped down off the log, and headed back in the direction of the village. He was clearly an expert at making his way through the woods without getting lost, and Hannibal wondered how they’d never run into each other before.

He didn’t get the chance to follow Will, though, because he suddenly heard and felt a loud voice calling out to him, “Hannibal!” He froze, and then slowly turned to face the guardian. Even with a face of moss, she was able to portray how unhappy she was with him. 

Being subservient to others was never something Hannibal had excelled at, which was part of the reason he had been so eager to leave the world of the fae and its arrogant king behind. How was Hannibal ever supposed to obey someone when he knew that he was far better than them?

But the guardian of the forest was a powerful being, and she enjoyed the taste of human blood when it was spilled among her roots. She was not better than Hannibal- he wasn’t sure if there was anyone who was- but she wasn’t beneath him, either. And since he was currently living in her woods, it would be awfully rude of him to just ignore her. 

He let several seconds pass between them in silence before he responded, wanting to make sure she understood that he would not jump to please her. “Yes?”

The guardian slid down off of the log, the moss shifting and clinging to her until she was on the ground and far away. She didn’t have distinct legs, just the appearance of a gown that went low enough to touch the ground. She moved right up to Hannibal, and he found that when she was so close, it was easy to see that her features were vague, and she barely resembled a human at all. “You will not attempt to make any deals with that child,” she commanded, as if she actually had the right to tell Hannibal what to do. He had not left behind one foolish tyrant just to be stuck with another. 

“Why are you so invested in his well being?” he asked in lieu of confirming that he would leave Will alone.

The guardian scoffed. “What goes on in my forest is none of your business, Hannibal. Like everyone else who lives among my trees, it is with the understanding that you will cause me no trouble. I have absolutely no problem kicking out anyone who causes problems, and I can easily tell my sisters not to allow trouble-makers into their forests either. Slaughter that entire village if it will make you feel better, but you will not cause harm to that boy, and you will not make any deals with him. Am I understood?”

Hannibal stared at the moss that was vaguely shaped like a person, and he knew that his eyes had to be glittering even more murderously than usual. “Perfectly,” he answered in a clipped tone. “Now if that’s all…?”

The guardian sighed despite having no lungs. “Yes, that’s all.” As Hannibal left to return to his usual spot in the woods, not wanting to press anything with the guardian for now, he heard her address the other monsters that had been nearby, reminding all of them that Will was off limits, though she was careful to never use Will’s name. 

What the foolish guardian did not seem to understand, though, was that drawing such a clear line in the sand between Hannibal and Will only made Hannibal all the more intrigued to find out as much about Will as he could. And he could easily go right to the source for answers. Talking to Will and asking questions would certainly not harm the boy, or force him to take any deals. 

Hannibal grinned to himself as he started thinking about what the best plan of approach would be so that he wouldn’t scare Will away. And none of the other monsters in the woods were nearly brave enough to approach Hannibal when he had that particular grin on his face. 

,,,

Hannibal didn’t go back to the village the next day, either. He figured that whatever interesting thing was going on would involve Will, and the guardian had told Will to come to her on the full moon. So he waited patiently in the woods, filling his time with the deaths of weak monsters that got in his way. He ate those, too, but did so out of sight. Obviously the guardian could see everything that went on her woods and didn’t care, but the other monsters might get upset if they knew that Hannibal saw himself as a creature so superior to them. 

He waited as patiently as he could, and then heard Will’s footsteps approaching the same small clearing and fallen tree as before. It was barely even dark out, and Hannibal wondered if it was normal for Will to go into the woods so early. It was a miracle that his parents hadn’t caught on to whatever this was.

Will was watched but not engaged with by any of the monsters, same as before, and he climbed up onto the fallen tree. “Nana? Are you there?”

The moss gathered itself up into that vague woman-ish shape again, complete with arms that immediately pulled Will into a hug. “Yes my darling, I am here for you. Go to sleep now. You have nothing to fear while I keep watch.” 

Will nodded, and there was trust written all over his features. Whatever business he had with the guardian of the forest, it was something that must have been going on for a while, which only intrigued Hannibal even more. He watched as Will wriggled around to get more comfortable, eventually resting his head on the guardian’s lap like it was a mossy pillow made just for him, and his eyes slid shut.

The guardian reached down and began gently carding her fingers through Will’s hair. The other monsters all quickly departed, and Hannibal tensed, ready to run if anything dangerous was going to happen. Of course it would be nice of the guardian to give some kind of warning if that were the case, but in the end it was her job to watch over her woods, not over the creatures living within. 

But nothing happened, at least not as far as Hannibal could tell. Will slept peacefully, the guardian stayed with him, and when morning came, she gently shook the boy awake. He got up and looked around, clearly slightly dazed still, and then he wrapped his arms around the guardian’s neck in a quick hug. “Thank you, Nana! I’ll see you next month!” He hopped off of the tree and then ran off back in the direction of the village. 

Hannibal was too curious to just let it go. He looked over at the guardian before she could dissolve back into nothing more than a pile of moss on a tree. “What was that about?”

The guardian didn’t seem surprised to see him there, which made sense. She most likely knew where everyone was at all times when they were in her woods. “Hannibal, this may come as something of a shock to you, but not everything that happens is your business to know about. These are my woods, run by my rules, and Will is absolutely none of your concern. Stay away from him, Hannibal, or you will regret it.”

Well, the guardian might have more power than him within her woods, but no matter how powerful she was, her reign ended at the tree line. And since Will’s village was not in the forest, there was nothing the guardian could do to stop him from looking for the boy in the village. As long as she didn’t find out, she would have no reason to kick Hannibal out of her forest. 

He could always just move out of the woods on his own, but he’d grown rather fond of the place, and lived well there. If he left, his only choices would be Will’s village, which would inevitably end in disaster, or to some other forest, but there weren’t any close enough to be convenient. But it was alright. Hannibal had become an expert at sneaking around in the world of the fae, and he was sure he’d be just as good at it here. Of course there was also the option of forgetting about Will and leaving him alone, but Hannibal had never been one to give up anything that caught his interest. 

,,,

Hannibal knew for sure that he was excellent at sneaking, but somehow Will caught him within just a few days. The boy put his hands on his hips and gave Hannibal an annoyed look. “What are you doing here? My Nana said that fae can’t be trusted.” 

Hannibal couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the petulant look on Will’s face. “Well it’s hardly my fault if you chose to trust a fae.” He crouched down so that he could be at eye-level with Will. “Tell me, why do you go into the woods on the full moon?”

The annoyance in Will’s voice only increased. “I’m not going to tell you that. I thought fae were supposed to be smart.”

Hannibal arched one eyebrow. “So you’re saying that I’m foolish, Will?” Will’s eyes widened at the sound of his name. “I believe that I must be more clever than you have given me credit for. However, I will confess that you are also more clever than I gave you credit for. You are an intriguing little creature, Will. Is it so wrong of me to want to know more about you? We don’t have to talk about the woods if you don’t want to. We can talk about anything you wish.” He knew that he was playing dirty, because a boy as shunned as Will would surely jump on the chance to actually get to talk to someone.

And sure enough, as intelligent as Will was, in the end he was still just a lonely boy. “We’re not going to talk about the woods or the full moon,” he said firmly. When Hannibal nodded in agreement, Will relaxed, and then reached out to grab Hannibal’s hand. “Come on, I know a nice place to talk.” 

Hannibal let himself get led outside of the village, to a small lake that glittered beneath the sunlight. “Do you come here often?”

Will nodded as he plopped down on the grass where it hung slightly over the lake, and peeled off his shoes so that he could dangle his bare feet into the water. “Yeah, it’s nice here. And I can do some fishing, so that I’m still contributing to the village even though I can’t-” he cut himself off and pressed his lips together in a flat line.

Hannibal sat down next to Will, with enough distance between them to maintain the illusion of safety, and put his own feet into the water as well. He never wore shoes so he had none to remove. “I find it hard to believe that there’s anything you can’t do.”

Will’s face went red at the flattery, and he ducked his head down so that Hannibal wouldn’t be able to see his face. “I can’t be assigned a job. None of the men want to take me on as an apprentice.”

“Not even your own father?”

Will’s shoulders slumped down. “I don’t have one. Or a mother either. Or if I do, no one knows where they are. I don’t remember it, but I guess I just showed up at the village one day, when I was a baby. The Grahams took me in, but they’ve always made it clear that I am not their son. Everyone in the village thinks I’m a freak. I’m-” his voice went so low that a human would not be able to hear it. “I’m afraid that as soon as I’m an adult, they’re going to kick me out so that I won’t be a strain on the resources.”

Not fitting in was something that Hannibal could relate to, though as a powerful fae he’d had the option to just leave and still easily survive. Will was just a human boy. Whatever he did in the woods on the full moon, it was probably a big relief to him just to have somewhere to go where someone cared about him. Too bad Will couldn’t just live in the forest with the guardian all the time.

,,,

Over the years, Hannibal took great pleasure in sneaking around behind the guardian’s back, and visiting Will in the village. It was strange to see how quickly humans grew. It felt like between one day and the next, Will went from being a boy to being a young man. It had also been strange to see that every month on the full moon, without fail, Will went into the heart of the woods and slept under the guardian’s watchful eye. 

As he had entered his teenage years, he had been given the task of hunting, though he had not been allowed to go on trips with the other hunters. It seemed as though the village wanted Will to die somewhere out in the wilderness so that he would not be their problem any longer, and it angered Hannibal more than he cared to admit. Will had been the one who calmed him down, though. 

And now Will’s twentieth birthday was coming up. Will had confessed to him years ago that his ‘birthday’ was really just the day he’d been found by the villagers, because no one knew for sure what day he was actually born on. The two of them sat by Will’s lake, a dead deer and several rabbits on the ground behind them as Will had just gotten back from a hunting trip. 

Will had his arms wrapped around his legs, and he stared out at the water. They’d both been sitting there in silence for a little while now. “I’m going to have to leave soon,” Will finally said.

Hannibal immediately turned to look directly at Will. “Did the villagers tell you that?”

“No. It has nothing to do with the village. It’s- well.” There was a pause, and then Will finally turned to look at Hannibal, though he still refused to meet the fae’s eyes. “This is probably a foolish question, because you are a fae and therefore untrustworthy, but are we friends?”

Perhaps it was a foolish question, but the idea of saying ‘no’ was strangely painful to Hannibal. How could he claim that he’d spent the last decade with Will purely to learn about the woods when he’d never even asked about it since the very beginning? “We are friends, Will.” 

It seemed to take Will a moment to process those words, and then he just nodded, like that had been exactly what he’d expected to hear. “I’m sure that it hasn’t escaped your notice that I spend a night in the woods every month?” Hannibal slowly shook his head. “We are friends, so I’m going to trust you with some very important knowledge, alright?” He paused, but Hannibal remained silent, wanting to let Will talk. “I call the guardian of the woods my Nana because she has taken better care of me than anyone else. When I was very young, I didn’t understand the insults directed towards me by my peers. The day I finally understood that they didn’t like me, I left. Ran off to the woods without a second thought, even though I’d heard all the same stories as everyone else about how dangerous the woods can be. Something came after me, and I climbed a tree to escape it. The creature rammed into the tree over and over until it toppled, and I went down with it. The fall was enough to kill me.”

Hannibal furrowed his eyebrows and looked Will up and down, assuring himself that the man was still healthy and in one piece. “I don’t understand.” 

Will shrugged one shoulder. “I was on the ground, barely conscious. I knew that I was dying. My head was split practically in half, and my back had been broken as well as several other bones. The monster had died too, though, crushed by the tree. I was in so much pain that it was unbearable, and I could only hope that my life would end quickly. And that’s when the guardian showed up. She offered me a deal that I couldn’t refuse. She would save my life, heal me completely, and I would get to return to my normal life, for the most part.”

“What did she ask in return?” Hannibal found himself whispering, as though he didn’t actually want Will to hear the question. He wasn’t sure why he suddenly feared the answer. It was normal for monsters to make deals with humans, expected even. But Hannibal had never heard of a forest guardian doing such a thing. 

Will sighed, and finally looked Hannibal in the eyes, for the first time ever. “You have to understand that she has a sister who is very old. And when any land guardian dies, all of their land dies with them. Maybe in a desert it would not matter so much, but in a forest there are thousands of living things that would die. All the plants, animals, monsters, everything. And with it, all the nearby humans who need the resources from the woods. It would be a complete disaster for so many. So our deal was that she would help me live, and in exchange I would go to her every full moon so that she could teach me about the responsibilities of being a guardian, and that once I’ve learned everything, I would take over for dying sister.”

Hannibal’s eyes widened. He’d never heard of anything like that happening before. But then again, he didn’t know any guardians other than the one of his forest. He’d never questioned what would happen to the land if the guardian of it were to perish. They’d always seemed so immortal that it had never occurred to Hannibal that they could die. But it should have. Anything that lived could also die. 

“How far away is the forest you will live in?”

Will frowned. “Very far.” 

There was a long moment of silence, and then Hannibal shrugged. “Well, then I’ll just have to move there as well.”

Will shook his head, and looked back at the water. “You can’t. It’s a very different forest than the one here. There are no monsters in it, and the only blood that is allowed to be spilled is that of the animals. So you have to stay here, Hannibal. This is the only place that you can live as you want. As you were meant to.”

Hannibal frowned. “So then you are planning on just leaving me? After so many years of friendship?”

Will squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. “I have to, Hannibal. That was the deal.” Then he scrambled to his feet, and grabbed the animals he’d killed on his hunt. “I should bring these back to be taken care of before they go bad.” He paused, then continued forward.

Hannibal reached out to grab Will’s arm and yank on it before Will could walk away. “Swear to me that you will say goodbye before you leave.”

“Hannibal…”

“Swear it,” he demanded.

There was a moment of silence, and then Will let out a sigh of defeat. “I promise, Hannibal.” Then he hurried off towards the village, and Hannibal watched the retreat with sharp eyes. He wasn’t sure what exactly was going on, but he was not going to let Will go without a fight. 

,,,

Hannibal walked up to the heart of the forest and rapped sharply against the fallen tree. “Guardian, are you here?” He had no idea how to actually summon the guardian, but this seemed like as good a guess as any, since it’s where Will had always summoned her. 

There was a long moment of absolute silence, as if everything in the forest held its breath at the same time, and then the moss slowly moved and formed into the guardian. Even without a clear face, it was easy to see how unamused she was. “I have a very busy job, Hannibal, and cannot take the time to see to your every whim.”

“What was your deal with Will?” he demanded immediately. This was clearly a situation where he had no time for small talk. 

The guardian gave him a long look, then sighed. “I should have known that Will would talk to you before he left. You two have been very close since you first found out about him. Honestly it’s a miracle that it took you as long as you did to run into him for the first time.”

“What was your deal?”

She sat down primly on the fallen tree. “Why do you even care?”

And wasn’t that the same question that Hannibal had been asking himself for years now? “What was your deal?” he repeats like a broken record when he can’t think of anything else to say.

The guardian has the audacity to laugh at him for it. “I have lived for a very long time, Hannibal, and I’ve met many monsters, fae and otherwise. And I can say with absolute certainty that I have never once met one foolish enough to fall in love.” Then she disappeared into a pile of moss, and Hannibal was left to stand there, frozen in place by words that were never meant to have been spoken aloud.

,,,

It was just like the first time they’d met, as Hannibal tore a man’s head off and Will watched. He turned slowly to look at Will, and it struck him how much Will had grown since that initial meeting. “What a pleasant surprise. You rarely seem interested in visiting the woods.”

The nervous look on Will’s face along with the way he kept fidgeting his hands together clued Hannibal in about what this visit was about, as much as he wished that it was otherwise. “I promised that I’d say goodbye,” Will finally said. “So this is it. I’m- I’m really happy that I had the chance to know you, Hannibal. You made my life better in so many ways. I’m going to miss you.” 

There were tears slowly sliding down Will’s cheeks, and Hannibal felt his stomach twist up with more concern than any monster should ever feel for any human. He stepped closer and reached out to stroke Will’s face, leaving behind a streak of blood as he did. “What was your deal?” he asked softly, for the last time.

Will blinked, and then suddenly threw himself forward, and Hannibal’s arms automatically wrapped around him. They embraced for far longer than an average hug was meant to last, and then Will finally pulled away, though he wouldn’t meet Hannibal’s eyes. “Hannibal, I need you to go somewhere else for the night. Somewhere far from the woods. Please.”

“Why?” 

Then he heard the voice of the guardian, even though he hadn’t been aware of her presence nearby. “Because you are not required for the fulfillment of my deal with Will, and you are more likely to interfere than anything.”

Hannibal kept his face blank as he stepped past Will to look at the guardian. Even with a neutral expression, he knew that his eyes had to be giving away his cold fury. “And what reason might I have to interfere?”

“Nana-” Will started, but the guardian spoke over him.

She shrugged one lumpy shoulder. “Oh what difference does it make now? You’re in my forest, where I have all the power, so I may as well tell you.” He could hear Will protesting from behind him, but he ignored the boy. “When Will was a child he was going to die. I offered to save his life, but only as a temporary measure. I would give him many years to live a normal human life, but it would have to come to an end. Once a month, he would come while I was at my most powerful, and I would siphon bits of energy out of him, and give him bits of mine in exchange. It had to be a very gradual process for him to survive it. And now the time has come for him to fulfill his end of the deal. I am very old, Hannibal, but I can preserve my life when I take the last of Will’s energy tonight, along with his soul.”

Hannibal couldn’t keep the surprise off of his face for a moment, and then he looked back at Will. “You lied to me,” he said in the calmest voice he could manage.

Will looked so miserable, though, that it was hard to be angry. “I thought that it would be easier if you thought that I had left. Knowing that I was still out there somewhere, alive.”

There was a frown on Hannibal’s face as he turned back to the guardian. “You’ve been giving Will bits of your power all this time?”

“Yes, but I’ll get it all back tonight anyways, so it will have been worth it. You should do as Will asked and leave the forest for the night, if you’re afraid that you won’t be able to control yourself.” She nodded at Will. “Make sure you’re in the clearing before the moon is out.” Then she left without another word. 

Hannibal took a moment to process everything before he let himself look at Will again. “You’ve known all this time that you would die?”

Will nodded once. “Dying in this forest was the most painful, awful torture I’ve ever experienced. I’d have done anything to put an end to it. And the deal I got isn’t so bad. I had fifteen good years that I would not have gotten otherwise. And I got the chance to meet you and know you. I was meant to die back then; all I was given was a bit of a delay. It’s alright, Hannibal. This was always meant to happen.”

Hannibal thought of the guardian’s words to him the other night, about how he’d been foolish enough to fall in love. None of this had been meant to happen, but it had happened, and there was nothing he could do to change that. And there was nothing that he would do to change that even if he could. Meeting and knowing Will had been a wonderful part of his life. So wonderful, in fact, that Hannibal wasn’t willing to give it up just yet. “I want to be there tonight. To be with you in the end. You shouldn’t be alone for that.”

There was practically stars in Will’s eyes as he grabbed both of Hannibal’s hands. “You don’t have to, but thank you, Hannibal.” Then he glanced up at the sky, where the sun was still clearly bright and high. “Let’s spend the rest of the day together. Let’s pretend that we’ve got all the time in the world, alright?”

,,,

Will led Hannibal all over the forest, showing off all of his favorite places. And when it got darker out, he led Hannibal back to the clearing, where the fallen tree was. The tree that Will had nearly died at the base of fifteen years ago. Will called for the guardian, and Hannibal bided his time. 

As she was in the middle of forming her mossy body, Hannibal surged forward to tear her head off. Another body formed a few feet away, and the guardian gave Hannibal an unimpressed look. “As if any single form I make would ever be my true self,” she scoffed. 

But now that Hannibal had made an attempt, she was most likely going to let her guard down, not expecting him to make another. He didn’t bother to apologize, since they both knew that it would not be genuine. The guardian sank down onto the ground, and Will gingerly sat down next to her. After a moment, he stretched out, resting his head on her lap just like he always did, and he closed his eyes. 

The moon seemed to rise up above them, and Hannibal bided his time. Maybe she didn’t normally store her essence in the bodies that she made out of moss, but surely even she would need to be fully present if she wanted to absorb Will’s soul. So he waited, and waited, and as the night passed, there was no big event. 

He was just watched as Will looked paler and paler under the moonlight, and that’s when Will’s hand was suddenly moving, and suddenly the guardian let out a loud shriek as her moss body caught on fire. Will scrambled away, stumbling weakly, and Hannibal quickly caught and steadied him as he watched.

The guardian dropped to reform, but the fire traveled with her, and she could not shake it off. Will turned to look at Hannibal. “I didn’t want you here because I was afraid I would give everything away to you. The reason I accepted her deal, Hannibal, was because I didn’t want to die, and I still don’t, especially not when it would mean leaving you behind. My Nana gave me more of her power than she thought, and I’m using that now.” 

Hannibal grinned, and pulled Will in for a hug. “Oh you clever, wonderful boy. But what will happen to this forest when she is dead?”

Will grinned as well. “There will be a new guardian here. She’s already given me so much of herself that it shouldn’t kill me to take a bit more.” He suddenly gave Hannibal a quick kiss on the cheek and then a little wink before he rushed towards the fire, which was contained in the patch of moss.

Hannibal couldn’t help worrying when Will stepped right into the flames, but they didn’t seem to burn him. Instead they raced up and down his body, and he squeezed his eyes shut. The moss from the ground began to crawl up Will’s body, slowly coating him entirely. It moved so slowly that it took hours.

Before it could reach his face, Hannibal moved closer to Will. “If you don’t survive this I Will never forgive you.”

Will gave him a strained smile. “Guess I’d best survive, then.” The last of Will’s body was covered in moss just as dawn broke, and then it all fell away, leaving Will standing there, looking healthier than ever, and with a faint glow about him. He looked down at his hands like he’d never seen them before, and let out a small laugh. “I did it. I really did it!” He rushed over to Hannibal, moss clinging to the soles of his feet with each step he took, and he threw himself into a hug. “Hannibal,” he breathed out, as though it were the most important word in the universe. There was a mischievous grin on his face. “My name is William Graham, and it is absolutely wonderful to meet you.”

The blatant show of trust was enough to take Hannibal’s breath away for a moment, as was the full implications of this. Will was the new guardian of this forest, which meant that he was going to live for a very long time. Certainly long enough for a fae like Hannibal. “The pleasure is all mine,” he murmured, and then he pulled Will in for a kiss that felt like it had been a thousand years in the waiting. Perhaps Hannibal was foolish, but he didn’t mind so much when it meant that he could be foolish together with Will.


End file.
